Panic
by dreamboat-dino
Summary: Tag to 10x22 "The Prisoner". Sam gets back to bunker and surveys the damage. Dean is nowhere to be seen; Cas, on the other hand...
1. Chapter 1

**Yet another fic set after 10x22, when Sam finds Cas.**

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"Dean!" Sam called, stepping out of the car and making his way towards the bunker. "De-!"He stopped, seeing the door to the bunker off its hinges. Starting to run he called out the name again, desperately needing to know how the bunker had been violated in this way.

He stopped on the threshold, leaning back against the wall, his legs unwilling to support his whole weight. For one, books were piled up in some mockery of a pyre, and Sam felt heady as he realised that he had almost lost his third home to fire too. But the almost was important – from this angle Sam could see two bodies decorating the floor and something – Dean? – must have stopped them.

Taking a breath he moved down the stairs, assuming by the stillness of the bunker that there was no longer a threat to be had. Now closer he could see that one of the bodies was only a boy, who could not have been more than 20. The other, he was unsurprised to see, bore the tattoo of their most recent enemy, the Stynes. Spotting a third he began to go to check it out, before the fact that this one was wearing a trench coat sunk in and he hurried to reach the angel's side.

"Cas!" he breathed, urgently, shaking his shoulders and patting his face gently in an attempt to wake him up. Cas was bleeding sluggishly from various wounds, he was pale and cold. It did not occur to Sam that the angel blade stuck in a book was not bloody; his only thought was the panic of losing yet another.

"CAS, Cas, wake up" he hissed, urging the other man to respond. "C'mon, Cas, I know you're not- you're alive, you gotta be alive, just wake up goddammit!"

But Cas remained motionless and Sam… Sam didn't know what to do. Suddenly convinced that his friend was dead, bile rose in his throat, and looking around he was glad to find that the chaos in the bunker had led to the trash can being placed only metres from him. He was promptly sick, any emotion that he had repressed upon seeing Charlie's body for Dean's sake rising to the surface again, and with no-one to hold it back for this time, he vomited again.

Thoughts raced through his mind like bees swarming. How would he tell Dean that his best friend had also been murdered by the Stynes because Sam had asked Cas to keep a eye on him? God – how would he tell _Claire_ that he'd let Cas be killed? She'd lose the little faith she'd had in them and might leave Jody's and do something stupid on her own and _it would all be on Sam_.

So wrapped up in his own thoughts was he that he did not notice Cas' wounds drying up, nor did he see Cas' eyes slowly opening. He started when he heard his name being uttered.

"Sam?"

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 **Sorry for any inconsistencies. What's up with Cas will be explained next chapter. Please review if you liked it! :D**

 **Thanks for reading xx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the second part to the story. Hope I haven't kept you waiting too long. Enjoy!**

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 _He started when he heard his name being uttered._

 _"Sam?"_

Sam shot up to locate the source of the sound. Closing his eyes briefly as his vision blackened from standing up too fast, he opened them as soon as he heard his name said a second time.

"Sam."

He looked over incredulously at where Cas was lying no longer pale, no longer with blood adorning his entire face.

"Cas… what?" He bent down, crouching next to the body, putting his hand on Cas' cheek and then quickly withdrawing it once he found it was warm.

"Sorry I- I just had to check." He gave a nervous laugh. "Not that- I mean you're obviously well – I don't know what you'd turn into – but Cas – you seemed de- you seemed _dead_."

Cas sat up slowly, then propped himself up against the pile of books.

"But I am not, Sam, so you do not have to worry."

Sam took a few deep breaths, collecting himself before he next spoke.

"Cas, _how_ did you come back? Or were you never actually gone?"

Cas gave a sideways smile to him. "It's… complicated. My grace isn't what it used to be and it takes a while for me to rejuvenate. To do that fastest, it just shuts my vessel down – not harming me in any way, but delivering my grace of the burden of keeping the body going at the same time."

They both sat there in silence for a few minutes; Sam was processing this new revelation about angels – well, about one angel, there wasn't exactly another one like Cas, and Cas deliberating on whether or not Sam had guessed about the cause of his injury. Without warning, Sam knelt forward and embraced Cas, trying to convey that he was really, really glad that Cas wasn't dead.

Cas allowed himself to be hugged for a few minutes, before putting his hands up and slowly pushing Sam back.

"Sam, we have to talk about your brother."

Sam averted his eyes form Cas' gaze. "I know," he said softly. "What he did today… I-I know the Stynes weren't _innocent_ , they," he squeezed his eyes tightly shut, "they killed Charlie, and they hurt you …"

"Sam, Dean did this to me."

"No-" Sam looked up quickly, his shock evident. "No, he- what? Why would he do that? Did he kill those Stynes too, then?" he said gesturing over to the bodies flung on the bunker floor.

"I believe I angered him when pointing out that he would eventually turn into a demon again."

Sam raised his arm to pinch the top of his nose, his automatic reaction to stressful news. "God," he breathed out, "Cas, I'm so sorry."

This time Cas was the one to initiate contact, putting his arms round Sam and resting his head on the other man's shoulder. For now they would have to take solace in this – they would face the rest of the carnage surrounding them – and the bigger problem of Dean – later.

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 **It's shorter than I anticipated, but it's probably best to cut off now before it turns into rambling goo. Please leave a review if you liked it! Thank you :D**


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